Riboflavin acts as bioorthogonal photocatalyst to activate a PtIV anticancer prodrug in the biological environment.

The article highlights the emergent use of upconverting nanoparticles as tools for the near infrared photoactivation of transition metal complexes, identifying opportunities and challenges of this approach in the context of medicinal inorganic chemistry.

Recent advances in bioorthogonal catalysis promise to deliver new chemical tools for performing chemoselective transformations in complex biological environments. Herein, we report how FAD (flavin adenine dinucleotide), FMN (flavin mononucleotide), and four flavoproteins act as unconventional photocatalysts capable of converting PtIV and RuII complexes into potentially toxic PtII or RuII−OH2 species. In the presence of electron donors and low doses of visible light, the flavoproteins mini singlet oxygen generator (miniSOG) and NADH oxidase (NOX) catalytically activate PtIV prodrugs with bioorthogonal selectivity. In the presence of NADH, NOX catalyzes PtIV activation in the dark as well, indicating for the first time that flavoenzymes may contribute to initiating the activity of PtIV chemotherapeutic agents.

Amphiphiles obtained by microbial fermentation, known as biosurfactants or bioamphiphiles, are reviewed in terms of their solution experimental and theoretical self-assembly properties, interface properties and interactions with macromolecules.